A New Eureka
by WittyWallflower
Summary: A collection of moments set post-1947. Everyone deals with changes to the timeline and the effects those changes have on their relationships with each other. Jo/Fargo, Zoe/Zane, Jo/Zane. Not actually interconnected but not mutually exclusive either, some from prompts and some from plot bunnies. xposted@ao3. check the AN at the beginning of each chapter for time-frame.
1. Chapter 1

AN: set immediately post-1947

Jo and Fargo struggle to adapt to the new word, and Jo confronts Fargo about what happened with Julia.

Brotp more than OTP but could be read as a slow burn to more.

Jo and Fargo were spending the evening reviewing the top secret files of Eureka: GD project results and personnel reports, as well as the Sheriff's office criminal records, comparing what they found to the memories from their timeline. It was a struggle adapting to this new timeline and the different people they were supposed to be here. None struggled more than them. They alone of the 5 yearned for their old lives. Allison had a whole new Kevin, Carter had Tess back and Zoe unchanged, and sure, things were really awkward between Henry and Grace but it was clear that Henry was fast falling in love with the perfect woman who had been conveniently dumped into his lap by fate.

Fargo had lost Julia, and more than that lost his comfort zone entirely. But Head of GD was a dream job, he told himself. It had become is mantra he repeated mentally every moment he yearned for the familiar stability of having someone else make the tough decisions and tell him what to do. Or missed having time for his own projects and his own interests outside of GD. Had the other Fargo even been to a comic con?

Jo of course missed her job. Her house. Her Zane.

So they gravitated towards each other. Their new roles at GD had them working close in a professional capacity. Closer even than Jo had worked with Carter because she didn't have cause for resenting Fargo like she had with Jack in the beginning. And because they could help each other in getting caught up. Not having anyone else to talk to about the monumental changes in their life, it was easy for their personal time to bleed into and overlap their professional dealing.

Tonight was a case in point. They had encountered each other as they both left GD for the day and said their farewells. Mere minutes later they ran into each other again as both stopped into Cafe Diem for an evening meal. They were chatting amiably but aimlessly while waiting for Vincent to get a moment to take their orders when Fargo froze. Jo glanced discreetly over her shoulder to see what had caught his attention. A Section 3 scientist had entered the cafe. Jo couldn't place her name exactly but knew she was section 3, on a team experimenting with fibrous plant stems for... some reason that was probably both overly complicated and under-important.

As the GD employee passed Fargo she gave the Director a nod, polite but looking puzzled, before passing by to join another young lady at a booth along the west wall. Fargo barely managed to squeak out his order when Vincent made it over to them. Jo noticed him ask for takeaway and followed suit, determine to follow Fargo and settle this mystery.

When Vincent handed over the gourmet meal in its recycled biodegradable eco-friendly takeout container, Fargo practically bolted out the door without saying goodbye. Jo followed a few short minutes later when her own food appeared. He could have been long gone by then but he was obvious distracted and Jo's strong quick stride caught up with him easily.

With some prodding she learned that Fargo had spoken to Dr Cooper from section 3 earlier and had asked in passing how her wife was. Not only was such a benign social pleasantry completely out of character for Director Fargo but apparently in this timeline Dr. Cooper had never married! Indeed, she had only in recent weeks realized her feelings for her long time best friend and acted on them, asking Dr Jones out on a date. The date that commenced that very night, while Doug stood there awkwardly in Cafe Diem waiting for his food.

Fargo was jittering with the stress and anxiety of the close call. He just knew that if any of them tripped up and gave the game away, it would be him. He put so much mental effort into making sure he didn't doom his friends to the vague sinisterness of government 'sanctions' that he got headaches some days.

"You know, Fargo, if we're going to pull this off, I think we're going to need to do some research on this timeline. Figure out the differences before they cause us problems." well, any MORE problems. Besides, she had already start to do just that. Kind of. Okay, all she had looked into so far was Zane. All she found in his file was criminal records and official reprimands. But man, did she ever find plenty of that.

The GD stuff was actually easy. Scientists being scientists everything was meticulously documented and recorded, down to what color of sterile gloves were used in which lab. Everything they might need to know about any project was written down somewhere, if not recorded visually as well on the security cameras most labs had, and if it wasn't in the records Fargo had access to as director(which was all of them), that meant it simply didn't exist in this timeline. So Jo had suggested they start with the people of Eureka instead. Which led them to the Sheriff's office which Jo then let them into, knowing Carter wouldn't mind a little B&E between old friends for a good cause.

They had settled quickly in to their search, soon piling files and tablets between their takeout boxes.

Jo sat at Carter's desk, relishing the rare opportunity to sit in the seat of power she had once coveted. She smirked at that. Really, security chief at GD had so much more authority compared to the Sheriff's office. Not that she cared about or desired that sort of power. Still, it was a nice vindication after being passed over for sheriff in favor of Carter, and then again in favor of a robot. Her shoes were kicked off and her feet were propped up on Carter's desk to take full advantage of the situation.

Fargo stood at a filing cabinet offering up way more papers than its dimensions could possible be expected contain without the aid of science and some really advance technology. He had purposely angled himself so he wouldn't be tempted to glance down Jo's shirt as she leaned the chair back. Also she wouldn't be tempted to suspect him of doing so. But thoughts of the hint of cleavage revealed when she had shucked her tailored blazer had quickly been shoved aside as they got down to work.

"Huh," Fargo muttered, flipping through a hard file with one hand while he browsed data archives on the laptop atop the filing cabinet with the other. "It looks like Julia never stole your face. She wasn't even in town long before she let herself get headhunted by Google."

They had been trading facts while they read different files. Anything that seemed important for the other to know about the new Eureka or anything that could have been a catalyst for bigger changes to snowball from.

"So, what, this timeline's Julia was too shy to make a move on you?" Jo asked.

Fargo shook his head slowly. His expression was now fixed in what she thought of as the Theorizing Face. Commonly worn by Eurekans while mentally piecing together data before coming up with a hypothesis or a plan of action.

"Other Fargo kept a journal." he said "I've skimmed through most of it. He didn't mention anyone he was… romantically interested in. I don't think he liked very many people and he certainly didn't seem to love any. Maybe there was no one for Julia to envy."

The thought was mildly surprising to her at. Evidence suggested that Other Fargo was a confident and powerful man. At the very least he dressed a lot better than the Fargo she had first met in her timeline. She would expect that to lead to more success with the ladies. Evidence suggested Other Fargo was filthy rich too. Yet not even a gold-digging trophy girlfriend?

"So if Other Fargo kept a journal with no mention of Julia, or me… that would suggest that _you_ keep a journal that does mention me." Mentioned him being romantically interested in her. Jo tried not to let her amusement show as she pieced it together. Did Fargo keep a DIARY? Did he write "Douglas Lupo" in it with hearts for the 'O's like her own 12 year old self might have done?

Fargo manfully suppressed the urge to squirm in awkward discomfort. When he had returned from 1947, he had nearly blown their cover before he had learned to imitate the bearing and demeanor of Other Fargo. His own klutzy, anxious bumbling and twitchy fidgeting had drawn remarks, even from terrified sycophants. There had even been a suggestion or two that Director Fargo visit the infirmary. Perhaps for a brain scan. So Fargo had fought the fidgeting, forced himself to stop slouching. He read several papers from the GD's social psychology department on body language, googled power stances. He put conscious thought into his movements before he made them and found this slowed him down just enough to be mistaken for controlled and graceful.

But Jo's gaze was too intimidating. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He caught her eyes narrowing infinitesimally as she caught the movement and knew he'd given up some piece of information to her without meaning to. It was uncanny how well Lupo could read people. He could never get away with anything with her around.

"Its actually a blog." He confessed, voice low and miserable with embarrassment.

Her lips twitched but she suppressed her smile. Fargo really was priceless. But Fargo was also clueless. He'd had no idea Julia was interested in him, enough to go to very desperate measures to get his attention, So maybe Other Fargo was just as clueless and that is why no one was ever mentioned in his journal?

"C'mon Fargo." Jo drawled, throwing him a bone and deciding not to grill him on what he was posting about her online. Not right this moment anyhow. "You must have had some suspicions about what was happening back then. I mean, coming on to you isn't exactly normal behavior to me. What, she said I like video games and science stuff and you were said 'Cool, lets makeout!'?" Was she supposed to believe a guy as smart as Fargo would be so blinded by her, um, charms that he wouldn't even deduce there was a problem?

"No! God, no, of course not, you know that." His denial was immediate and emphatic.

She did know that. Jo knew very detail and every word he and Julia had exchanged. How Julia had tried to approach him with his own interests. How he'd been pretty sure Jo didn't have the slightest interest in any of that stuff and didn't understand out why she was saying it. How he'd pushed Julia-in-Jo's-face away when she acted so unlike the real Lupo. Fargo cringed as he remembered that awkward conversation in Lupo's interrogation room. She hadn't really suspected him of collusion with Julia, of course. But Jo's pride, both personal and professional, wouldn't let this theft of her image and identity slide without an official investigation into every aspect of the case. So she'd mercilessly made Fargo spit out every tiny detail of the truth, no matter how much he writhed in humiliation as he related everything, unable to meet her eye most of the time, wishing he could have this conversation with literally anybody else rather than her.

Kinda of like now, actually.

But now she sighed and took pity on him. "I'm not mad at you about it, Fargo. And I wasn't mad at you then."

"Wha-" He choked down a sputtered response. Another trick he'd had been learning since he was thrust suddenly into this new world. He hesitated only half a beat, then tried for a casual tone. "Are you sure? Because you seemed pretty mad."

"Yeah I was mad. I was furious. My face was taken, my identity, my self." Old anger threatened to reheat as she thought back on it. But there was no point in dredging it all up right now. In this new life it had never even happened. "But I wasn't angry with YOU. It wasn't your fault. You didn't give Julia the idea or help her steal the parts or build the machine. You didn't even take advantage of the situation where a lesser man might have."

"THAT was never what i wanted from you, Jo. Well, I mean it _was_ but not like that. Not ONLY that, I mean-" Doug ground to a halt, clearing his throat and trying to compose himself. Damn, he'd been doing so well at not being the old Doug. He fell silent, flopping himself down in a chair with a pointed lack of grace while his brain scrambled to backtrack without making a further ass of himself.

Jo smiled at this bit of the familiar old Fargo. He'd never been able to hide the attraction to her that had escalated into a full blown crush as their paths began to cross regularly. Him assisting Stark and her assisting Carter as they all worked to save the day. No one could have missed his admiration. But Fargo had never treated Jo with less than professional courtesy and respect. Never made an unwanted advance or inappropriate comment or even let his eyes wander.

While Zane, the old Zane, had gone hard from day one with the innuendos and the lingerie. Not to mention those heated gazes that had left her spine prickling with awareness. But then, it had been hard to tell with Zane if it genuine interest, simple lust, or just a desire to mess with the heads of the local law enforcement who insisted on spoiling his fun.

With Fargo she had never had cause to question his respect for her. Unlike Zane and most of GD, Fargo's genius never made Jo feel her own lack of a PhD. He could babble on about concepts she couldn't begin to comprehend and her head would absorb none of it, but she didn't feel condescended to when he wrapped up his explanations by adding a metaphor designed to help her understand. He wasn't dumbing anything down for her, he was translating from his language to hers.

Suddenly Jo didn't really want to needle Fargo anymore by prying at the past. He didn't deserve it, and she owed him more than to willfully make him uncomfortable. It was never her intent to scold him over past events. But she _had_ been wondering. And maybe it was the influence of living surrounded by scientists with more questions than common sense but these days when Jo Lupo wanted an answer she went looking for it. She asked the questions, blunt and straightforward, and expected (or at least hoped for) impartial unbiased truthful observations in return.

Which was great on paper, especially when it came to science, but when it came to dealing with people and their feelings...

"So my entire personality suddenly changes and you didn't think that was strange." She said. It wasn't exactly a question.

All traces of Director Fargo were truly gone now and plain old Doug stared at the hands resting in his lap.

"I didn't really let myself question it too much." He admitted, a sheepish mumble.

"And why not?" This is what Jo wanted to hear, without consciously realizing it before. Why a smart man like Fargo didn't sense something wrong. She let the question in the air, leaving him plenty of rope to hang himself with.

"This is Eureka. I figured it had to be some experiment gone wrong or something with a explanation. Like that time those prehistoric spores made you kiss Carter." Avoiding her gaze, Fargo didn't catch the blush that pinked her cheeks at that.

Okay, she admitted, so there was kind of a precedent for her running around kissing people she wouldn't normally kiss. She had to give him that.

"I started digging right away," he continued. "Tracked every lab you had been in that day and the previous 48 hours, to see what you might have been exposed to. But I don't know, I thought if we spent a little time together while i figured out what was wrong you might get to know me better and…" He refused to articulate the ridiculous hopes he'd actually entertained for a few brief days, settling instead on saying, "And maybe not find me as annoying when you went back to normal."

"So 'me' in a slinky red dress on a piano was to make me would like you better?"

Fargo flushed at the memory of that dress. "That was all Julia, i swear." Her eyebrow quirked in question at him. "I wont deny I went along with it. You're a beautiful woman, Jo. And i figured if all I ever got was a night of Cafe Diem karaoke with you, I'd take what I could get."

"You didn't though. Take what you could get." She said quietly, weighing the implications of that. He hadn't responded to Julia's advances. Didn't throw himself at what he thought was Jo the second she showed a bit of interest.

"I wanted to, at first." he admitted, "But then 'you' were so different from what I expected, what I thought I knew of you. Acting like you were into me one minute and laughing at me the next. I could tell you weren't yourself even though i couldn't find anything at GD that seemed like it could affect you… i-it just wouldn't have been right."

It hadn't been Jo at all. But somehow it still seemed like a violation of her person. He'd found the idea of taking advantage of her distasteful even at the time and had never allowed anything beyond a kiss because he didn't know what was going on with her. What was causing the strange behavior. He wouldn't act without more data.

That wasn't quite the response she had expected and Jo's respect for Fargo as a man grew. He hadn't wanted a hot girl to throw herself at him; he wanted to woo a woman he had feelings for. When Julia didn't respond to his wooing in a way that fit what he knew of Jo, he'd pulled back. He'd questioned whether he had even really wanted Jo for herself, whether he really knew her or simply wanted her because he thought she was beautiful. He'd… been a good guy.

She wasn't about to give him a cookie for not being a dirtbag ready to pounce, but she knew she had to acknowledge it even if only to herself. She couldn't say definitively that she believed Zane, old Zane or new Zane, would have had the fortitude to resist 'her' allure in the same situation.

It was time she started taking Douglas Fargo more seriously.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: post-1947

Jo/Fargo, and a little less platonic this time.

Jo Lupo stepped out of the Global Dynamics elevator, just about finished with her rounds of the various security checkpoints within the building. As she got a status report from the staff stationed in the rotunda, she reflected on her new position. Things hadn't exactly been boring as deputy, but as head of security there was so much more to do. The same amount of big science disasters occurred as they always did, but now she had more trivial tasks to oversee. Rescuing scientists who locked themselves out of (or in) their labs or solving petty disputes between researchers who can't agree on the right way to interpret their findings on the effects of a low oxygen environment on primordial slime mold. That one had almost come to blows yet she hadnt been allowed to knock anyone out for being a threat. Because those precious genius skulls contained brains that might cure cancer or end famine or invent a smartphone that could run for 2 weeks on a single charge. Concussions weren't good for the company's bottom line.

She shook her head in remembered irritation as she signed off on the security report she had just failed to listen to and headed up the stairs. Carter wasn't even there to share her annoyance about the reckless mad scientists. They had said they'd still work together like nothing had changed, but they both had very different duties to fulfill now. Besides, Carter had a new deputy anyway.

Irritated anew by that line of thought, Jo tugged on the cuff of her suit jacket, smoothing it comfortably over her arm. She tried not to fidget at the constriction of the tailored garment. Her deputy's uniform had had a lot more freedom of movement and the material had been soft this age. Security Chief Lupo clearly updated her wardrobe on a regular basis because all of her suits were still new enough to feel stiff and bulky.

Overlooking the rotunda was the director's office. As she passed Jo glanced in that direction and noted Fargo standing at his desk, but something she saw in that brief glimpse of him made her turn back. Her heels tapped smartly on the tile has she crossed to the Director's door.

Waving Larry into silence when he tried to greet her, Jo didn't bother to let him announce her presence to his boss. He sputtered indignantly as she strode past the desk where he sat as gatekeeper to the Boss's office. She could tell Fargo wasn't busy and of all people Jo was probably the last person he'd expect to wait to be buzzed through. Poking her head inside, she saw Fargo still standing unmoving before his desk. What had caught her eye as she passed was the tension evident in his hunched shoulders and the fist balled tightly at his side.

"Hey Fargo." she greeted him.

"Jo." He acknowledged her. He picked up a tablet from his desk with apparent nonchalance, but his eyes didnt actually focus on the data displayed on the screen.

"What's up?" she asked. It had become a routine for her to stop by his office in the course of her day so they could trade status reports. It also gave her a convenient chance to check up on him. Coming to this new Eureka had been difficult; she felt all they had was each other to rely on for help. But Fargo didn't immediately answer and Jo's eyes narrowed as she tried to determine if he was deliberately ignoring her or just that distracted and scattered today.

Crossing to the elegant serving cart near the door, she filled two mugs with a fragrant Vienna roast. Returning to the desk she set his personalized mug down in front of him. "Coffee?"

The smell got his attention and he looked up, for a moment aware of his surroundings. "What's up?" She tried again, taking a sip from her own nondescript cup.

"Just another round of complaints from Parrish. The usual: not enough lab space for his projects, wants priority access to the molecular spectophotometer for a nonessential project, claiming incompetence in his lab assistants but conveniently only the researchers who have turned him down for dates." He tossed the offending list of petty grievances on the desk and caught up the coffee for a revitalizing sip. "The work never ends for a Director." he quipped in a humorless voice.

"Ignore Parrish, maybe he'll go away." Jo said. It was a personal philosophy she had developed in her short time as security director. "Up for a walk with me?"

"I don't know, I've got loads to do and reports to file with the DOD."

"Make Larry do them. C'mon." he hesitated so Jo sighed and offered an inducement. "The head of Section 5 needs your authorization for access to some restricted materials. I'll walk with you to her lab."

Fargo consented and adjusted his tie, buttoning his blazer before they left his office. She was reminded of the old Doug Fargo, who had worn oversized sport coats made for men with broader frames, the seams of the sleeves drooping off his shoulders and the cuffs hanging so low they almost covered his hands. His clothing was perfectly tailored to his form now, the suit's clean lines emphasizing his lean body. He'd never be a body-builder but at least his spare build had lost some of the awkward bumbling klutziness he was once known for. As he proceeded her into the corridor, he stuffed a hand into his trouser pockets and the material of the pants stretched taut across his rear end. Jo blinked abruptly and pulled her gaze from his back side, stepping forward quickly to walk beside him.

They walked in silence until she noticed the dark cloud was still hovered over him; his face was fixed in a frown and from time to time he worried at his bottom lip with his teeth.

"You know, Fargo, no matter how much you might screw up…" Jo Lupo smiled slightly to take the sting out of her words. "You're a good director and a smart man. A little too smart sometimes." She hoped a compliment might brighten his disposition.

His expression betrayed his lack of conviction though, and he stared dubiously into his coffee. Or perhaps at the tacky mug bearing his own face, she couldn't tell. Either way he was avoiding the gaze of not just her but everyone they passed in the corridor. So he was missing all the nods of deference and the eyes hoping to catch his, lips ready to offer a hello should he acknowledge them. Other Timeline Fargo may have made GD employees fear him, but the Fargo she knew was quickly establishing a new reputation for himself as a reasonable and canny director. Everyone was still cautious around him, but they knew they no longer faced redaction if they dared to speak up for themselves or their projects.

"Look, Fargo. We all screw up. Name any five people in Eureka and I bet 4 of them have accidentally endangered the town, if not the entire country, before." He couldn't deny the truth behind what she said , despite the hyperbole. "I know we tease you a lot for your mistakes. Maybe that's no longer fair. I'd say you've proven yourself enough that we can't call you a screw-up anymore."

He smiled at that, knowing Jo's lack of tolerance for shenanigans made it hard for her to forget his long history of blundering his way into trouble. And her equally long history of saving him from disasters of his own making. But Fargo appreciated her verbalizing her respect.

"I guess I'm just not used to people relying on me." he said. "Before 1947, I just had to worry about trying not to screw things up too badly, I wasn't the one everyone turned to for a solution when someone else screwed up. I am the boss now. I've got all this responsibility, everyone relies on me. Everything is different now."

"Yeah this world is different all right." Jo kept her voice neutral and turned away so the bitterness wasn't written across her face but nonetheless Doug noticed her mood souring to join his. He didn't want to be Doug the Downer and remind her of her own misery.

"It's not so bad though, right?" The awkward note of forced cheerfulness in his voice made him cringe. He had noticed how subdued Jo had been since their return from 1947. "I mean, I'm head of G.D. instead of sitting behind Larry's desk. And you're head of GD security! Instead of being stuck as a glorified receptionist and a sheriff's deputy, we're the two most powerful people in town! We've got bigger houses, primo parking spots." His attempt at a enthusiastic smile came out as a conflicted grimace and he cleared his throat, taking another sip from his mug.

"And my almost-fiancee is now dating my best friend's daughter. Life is peachy." Jo regretted it as soon as she said it. Just thinking about it was enough to ruin her day.

Fargo choked on his coffee, coughing and sputtering before he finally managed to draw a breath. Jo came to stop as she waited for him to recover himself, eyes fixed in the middle distance and her hands clasped behind her. She really didn't want to talk about it.

"What? Zoe? and Zane?" Fargo finally managed to gasp. "Oh, that's just wrong."

Jo murmured an agreement and continued walking. After a moment's hesitation Fargo followed. They entered an elevator and began to sink smoothly down to Section Five. Fargo covertly studied Jo's face, for the moment distracted from his own troubles, but the woman was like the Sphinx. Trying to read her didn't come easy, even after so many years.

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"Is he getting bossier?" Carter asked Lupo as they left the director's office after a consultation about their latest catastrophe.

"I kinda like it." her words drifted back to Fargo before the door closed behind the two cop types.

Doug blushed, tapping furiously at his tablet to hide his sudden discomposure. Taking the lead around GD was getting less scary, but Jo's casual words, not meant to reach his ear, rocked him. He had noticed the shift in the dynamic between the two of them that came with the changes of this new timeline. Instead of standing before him, arms crossed in disapproval at him, Jo was now the solid presence beside him, confirming his authority and lending her own for support. His right hand, his Girl Friday... not that he could ever call her that to her face.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Lupo had been stomping around for a week, terrorizing the staff and putting the whole building on edge. The other day she had actually locked up a researcher who had argued with her when she wouldn't allow him back into the building during his GD mandated vacation time. From a security standpoint, she was right about the regulations governing such things, but putting a Nobel-prize-winning scientist in her cell for wanting to check on an experiment went against the intentions of GD and Eureka. She followed the letter of the law without respect to the intent sometimes and Fargo wondered just how much she missed arresting people as a deputy.

His attempts to keep her busy to distract her hadn't helped. She did her work with such military efficiency that she was still left with plenty of time to brood. Keeping Zane out of her way hadn't succeeded either. She perversely found excuses to seek him out, rubbing salt into her own wounds. And Jo Lupo wasn't the type to take vacation time and leave town till things settled down.

Fargo tried encouraging her to talk it out, only to learn why she had mostly avoid talking about it: once she got started, she couldn't stop. She listed every difference in this world and its negative affect on her life, from her job to her home to the preset talk radio stations in her car. Her mood deteriorated further when she began to bemoan the loss of Zane and what might have been. It was difficult to get her to admit to how deeply unhappy she was, but once the dam burst, someone better be ready to play therapist.

Which had led to where they were now. As she ranted furiously once again, dwelling on details best left behind her, issues Fargo had talked her down from before, he decided it was time for some tough love.

"Jo, get over it." Fargo summoned up all presence he could command and interrupted her.

"What?" She barked in astonishment. Suddenly the air felt dangerous.

"You heard me."

She stepped up close, a finger in his face, her own features hard as stone.

"Listen, little man-" she began to threaten.

"No, you listen!" Fargo overrode her. He, Doug Fargo, was practically shouting down the fearsome Deputy Lupo. Only in an Alternate Eureka could this be happening. "You're not the only one who lost someone in the transition. They are different people now and we have to move on."

"Your little identify thief girlfriend is different from my fiancé, Fargo." She turned away dismissively, putting her hands on her hips.

Now Fargo really seized his courage.

"He wasn't your fiancé." The bluntly spoken words hung in the air between them.

Lupo froze mid turn, unable to believe his audacity. It was true, of course. She hadn't said yes before everything changed, she didn't have a right to call Zane her fiance. She hadn't been eager enough to make him her fiancé… she had hesitated. That fact wasn't lost on Fargo. It had to mean something, he told himself. Jo herself believed that actions spoke louder than words.

She turned back to him, a cold warning in her eyes but he powered on.

"You didn't say yes. When he asked you to marry him. You didn't say yes for a reason. And then when everything changed you didn't fight to get him back. That's not the Jo Lupo I know, she wouldn't give up on what she wanted. And now that he knows you have a history with him, he's asking questions and playing all these games with you, and you are pushing him away again."

She narrowed her eyes at him, daring him to continue, and he became acutely conscious of the fact that throughout the exchange she hadn't stepped away. On purpose. It was an effective intimidation tactic; her nearness was disconcerting. Jo Lupo could sever his windpipe in 5 different ways with her bare hands and Fargo knew it. She was a little impressed he hadn't wet his freshly pressed slacks yet. She had been right, Fargo the Screw-up really had grown up. He wasn't backing down.

"Which makes me wonder if being with him is what you really want. If it ever was." he said.

That hit home. The very issue Jo had grappled with herself since the moment Zane, her Zane, had gone down on one knee. Did she love him the way she ought to, or had he just been a challenge? Were they right together or was she just ready to settle down? Fargo watched her eyes fall as she asked herself these questions again.

"I need you here with your head in the game," he continued, trying to inject authority into his voice. "Not distracted by some boy like a teenage girl-"

Here Jo's head whipped up and the threatening look was back. He swallowed nervously and glanced away from the daggers in her eyes.

"… waiting around hoping for the bad boy to notice her." he managed to stammer out the rest.

She was fuming now, but it wasn't Fargo she was angry with. Mostly. She was mad that his words got to her, that they hit so close to home. That they made her feel like the awkward little girl he accused her of acting like. Because wasn't Zane just tomboy teen Jo's dream come true? A handsome bad boy who actually notices her. Likes her. Gives up his bad boy ways and cool his heels… just for her. That was any girl's dream, but it was only a dream.

And Jo was mad as hell she'd let herself believe in it. Fooled herself into thinking it had been real, even before everything changed. There was a reason she had hesitated.

"And what would you know about it, Fargo?" she tried to deflect.

"Are you kidding?" he snorted. "I spent my life watching every woman I've ever loved pine for someone else, some jerk with charm and a flash smile who always disappeared or let them down. _Of course_ the bad boy is going to notice you, Jo! You're the most beautiful woman in town! You're stronger than Wonder Woman and keeping us geniuses out of trouble means you're probably smarter than us all. Any man, bad or good, would have to be brain dead not to want you."

For a second she sneered at him. "Are you gonna tell me what a Nice Guy you are and how if only I'd open my eyes and see you standing there i might have find my Prince Charming right under their nose?"

"No." his admission was blunt, without hesitation and entirely free of self-pity. "I've never expect anyone to choose me. I'm not that guy. I'm not the heroic male protagonist who gets the girl after he saves the day. I'm the dopey sidekick who awkwardly tags along with the happy couple in the sequel."

Jo stepped back, unsure of what to say. She couldn't say the role he cast for himself didn't entirely fit but Fargo was so much more than just that. Hadn't she told him as much recently? All the anger drained from her, her face and voice softened.

"Fargo, whatever you think.. things around here wouldn't be the same with you."

She reached out and put a hand on his shoulder; as she did she reflected on the truth of what she said. New timeline or old, Fargo was a fixture of Eureka and a good friend. Without her even realizing it, he'd been her support system in dealing with the changes of the world. He ran interference for her with the new Zane and they had helped each other figure out their new roles at GD. They worked side by side on a daily basis and it had become natural to consult each others opinions even when protocol didn't require it. Looking back, since the new timeline she'd probably spent more time with Fargo than anyone else.

Sunk in her gloom over the changes in hr life, she hadn't noticed as Fargo stopped being a pest and became important. Became her friend.

"You are important to Eureka, and to the people who care about you. To me." She squeezed his shoulder and made an effort to drop her own worries so she could give him a genuine smile.

He smiled his thanks in return and reached up to squeeze her hand where it rested on his shoulder. When he met her eyes Jo looked at him as she had never really looked at him before, determined that Fargo shouldn't be a background character in his own life.

So she looked at him with new eyes and as she did she saw that Director Douglas Fargo was a different man from Doug Fargo, Screw-up and the man in front of her was somehow both and neither. As director, Fargo wore those expensive suits. The cuts made his shoulders appear broader while nipping in to emphasize his trim waist. He wasn't an imposing man but the power and responsibility of his new role at GD was written across Fargo now. He stood straighter, walked with a brisker pace, unconsciously adopted power stances. The confidence changed his entire aura, making him almost magnetic. Jo's eyes widened in disbelief when she realized she wasn't immune to it and felt a pull drawing her towards him.

He was familiar in this ever-so-slightly-different world and yet he was also someone new.

Fargo thought he read something in her gaze; he wasn't sure but when she tried to drop her hand he caught it and held it to his chest. At the slightest tug, he would have dropped it, unsure of overstepping his bounds, unsure that he wasn't seeing what he wanted to see behind her eyes as she looked at him. After a moment though she hadn't tried to pull away. Feeling very daring, Fargo stroked his thumb gently over her knuckles.

Her lips parted to speak but what she meant to say, she really wasn't sure. Once again the mood had abruptly shifted and she wasn't sure where they were now. But he didn't give her the chance to say anything. Instead Fargo broke eye contact. She expected that would be the end of whatever this moment was between them, that he would let her go and step away, awkwardly bumbling them back onto the topic of business, back into safe territory where it wasn't confusing or complicated.

But instead Fargo lowered his eyes to her hand, clasping it beneath his and shifting it to rest over his beating heart.

"Fargo…" Jo uttered to stop him. But what was she stopping exactly? Comfort between two friends? And why must she stop that, a tiny quiet part of her mind wondered. She licked her lips, her throat suddenly dry, but she didn't know what to say. Her fingers unconsciously curled slightly into the fabric of his suit.

"Jo.." she barely heard his whisper, his head still bent over her hand. "I know I'm not Zane but… I'm so much more than I ever was." Lifting her hand from his chest, he raised it and gently kissed to her knuckles, like a chivalrous knight of old. He paused a moment before turning her hand over to kiss her palm. "Give me a chance."

When his lips continued and he pressed a third kiss to the sensitive skin on the inside of her wrist and her skin tingled beneath the touch of his lips. Jo inhaled raggedly in response to the sensation. To the fact that it was _Fargo_ evoking it. His eyes snapped up to meet hers, hope and doubt warring in them, shadowed in the background by desire. Again she moved to speak but could not find words.

Fargo dropped his eyes again and froze, unable to credit what he'd just done. Fargo had sworn to himself to never betray his attraction to Jo again. The last time he tried had almost crushed his self-esteem. He never would have dreamed of approaching her if Julia hadn't kissed him while wearing Jo's face. Jo couldn't have known anything about that at the time Fargo professed his love, couldn't have known the kiss he thought came from Jo Lupo had been the most amazing he had ever had, but her reaction to his declaration had left him in no doubt that he was just about the last man in Eureka Jo Lupo would ever choose to get close to. So Fargo had vowed not to venture back to that well of broken hearts and done his best to smother his crush on her.

Only now he'd put his heart on display and thrown himself at her once again.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: post-1947, after Carter told Zoe what happened in the past

prompt: Zoe/Zane

Zoe comforts Zane after he has a confrontation with Carter.

Panchetta-and-havarti-stuffed pork chops were the lunch special in Cafe Diem and as always Vincent nailed it. Zoe never had to worry about the freshman 15 because Harvard food just could not compete with even the simplest snack prepared by Vince. Zoe relished every bite of the work of gastronomical art. That is, until she saw the look on her father's face when he walked in and order a double Vinspresso with a depth charge.

You don't grow up a lawman's daughter without learning to spot trouble a mile away.

"What's wrong?" she asked without preamble, her brows knit in concern.

"Nothing. Everything's fine." It was habit for Carter to downplay any problem but the immediately dangerous ones. He didnt want Zoe to spend her vacation home from university worrying. She'd enough of that when she had still lived in the bunker.

"Right," she snorted. "I believe that like I believe you when you tell S.A.R.A.H. you had grapefruit for breakfast on Danish Day."

"Its nothing you need to worry about, just..." Carter sighed as he sat down beside her, folding his hands on the counter. Since he had told her about what happened in 1947 and everything that had changed since, their relationship had shifted. He honestly made the effort to talk to her straight and treat her like an adult. He shared things with her he never would have considered telling the mischievous blonde teen he had sent across country for her education. "Zane's been getting into trouble and no matter what I do or say to get him to buckle down it doesn't make a difference. I try to get through to him and he just takes off and disappears. I need him grounded, I need... I need the Zane I knew. The Zane that grew up and stopped acting out."

Carter shook off his moroseness and dropped all references to the Other Zane as Vincent delivered his coffee. Zoe understood the need for secrecy. She felt bad for her dad and the others that they only had each other to talk to about everything.

After a bracing sip of Vinspresso Carter offered Zoe a smile.

"He could take a page from your book. I know I don't tell you enough but I'm really proud of you. The changes you've made, your grades, Harvard, everything." His eyes were warm as they regarded the woman she had become. He hadn't been the best father and hadn't always been there for her. But despite his bungling and awkward attempts to be a role model, she seemed to have turned out okay. Better than okay. Jack Carter stood in awe of his daughter sometimes. Awe, and pride.

Zoe squirmed in embarrassment, shaking her head in mock exasperation and letting her blonde hair fall forward to hide her blush from him. She was pleased by his praise but not sure how to react to her dad getting all mushy and fatherly in public. Carter had to laugh at her obvious discomposure as he climbed off his stool.

"I'm due on duty. I'll see you at home, sweetie." With another smile, and a nod of farewell to Vince, Carter strode out on Main Street.

Zoe bit her lip as she considered her course of action. She knew what it was like to have Sheriff Jack Carter giving you a talking-to. He could be so infuriating, especially when he happened to be right. Zane could probably use someone to vent to. They had only chatted a few times on Skype since he had helped her with a project, but their conversations had been far more flirty than science-y. At the very least, they were friends. And friends can check up on friends, right?

After checking his house, the library, the athletic fields where the womens' volleyball team was practicing, and then checking Cafe Diem again in case he had come in after she left, Zoe realized he must be avoiding everyone, not just her dad. He'd be somewhere no one, least of all Carter, would think to look for him. That ruled out a few places.

Eventually she found in him in Copernicus park, seated uneasily on a bench beneath a sprawling willow. He was seemed out of place in this peaceful setting where the only other movement was the tree branches swaying gently in the breeze. His leg jiggled incessantly and the hands crammed into his jacket pockets were unconsciously balled into tight fists. He glanced at her once as she approached but then continued glaring straight forward as she took a seat beside him on the bench.

"So I heard my dad really chewed you out." she said after the silence stretched on for a moment. He hadn't ordered her to leave at least.

"Carter's got some nerve," Zane burst out, ready to air his grievances against the sheriff, "calling me out like that in front of the whole lab. If I'm not breaking the law I don't see why anything i do is any of his business."

"He keeps saying he is your friend, or was your friend. Well not you, the other you. Alternate-timeline-you." Zoe frowned, still not completely able to wrap her head around the idea that the world had changed with her father's return from the past. She knew it was theoretically possible but... she felt the same, and Carter said she was the same, but apparently a lot of other things were different.

"Exactly, 'alternate'. As in NOT me. He doesn't know me but he goes around acting like he does." Zane scoffed. If it wasn't Carter chewing him out, it was Lupo hovering over his shoulder like he might commit murder the second her back was turned. He might be a felon but he hadn't asked to be brought here. They asked him to join Eureka. They shouldn't have bothered if they weren't going to trust him.

"You know Zane, my dad is a really good judge of character, part of what makes him a good sheriff is being able to read people.." She glanced over her shoulder just to make sure the devil they were speaking of hadn't turned up suddenly to hear her own praise of him.

"Yeah well he read me, and he thinks I'm a reckless bad boy who has a chip on his shoulder." Zane sulked.

"True, he does. And he's probably right. But..." she put a hand on his knee before he could object to the truth of that. "He also obviously thinks you are worth taking the chance on or you'd be in his cell. He wants you to be part of the team, we all do. Whatever the other Zane was like, my dad obviously sees some of that in you. Maybe you're not so different from alternate-you down underneath."

Zane stared at her hand as the restless, angry bouncing of his leg stopped. Reaching out to cover her hand with his own, he raised his eyes to her. He was still too irritated to smile, but his eyes softened as he looked at her and his other hand reached out to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I don't know. Alternate Me didn't have you. How smart could the guy be?"


	4. Chapter 4

AN: post 1947, post-Astraeus mission

Jo/Zane

Zane can't let go of what happened inside the simulation. Jo doesn't understand why not.

"When I was plugged in-" Zane started.

It was an old refrain by now, one that kept coming up in arguments that they kept getting in to since the crew had returned. Jo just wanted everything back to normal after the Astraeus fiasco and her aborted walkabout. But normal seemed to have disappeared entirely.

"God, I am so _sick_ of hearing about what things were like in the matrix Eureka simulation." Jo interrupted with an impatient gesture. She didn't mean to cut him off really, but she was getting frustrated... and helpless. What could she do about what he experienced in that virtual unreality? How was she supposed to defeat lines of code or chase away fictions? It was like boxing shadows. "It wasn't _real_. This, here, _this_ is real life!"

"Maybe it wasn't real, but the feelings were." Zane said. He was trying not be angry. He knew it wasn't anger directed at her. She had done her best to understand what they had been through but it wasnt something that could be explained. Just trying to explain left him feeling raw and vulnerable and he had always hated that. "The things I felt because _I_ believed it was real, that doesn't just go away. I found out what it feels like to lose you. It could have destroyed me, Jo. If you guys hadn't found a way to pull us out..."

He wasn't sure what the end of that sentence was. He wasn't sure what might have happened. He didn't want to believe he would have given up and left Eureka, but watching Jo and Carter be a happy couple wasn't an option he wanted to spend too much time considering. Would he have done it? Left the only place that had felt like a home since before he'd gone off to college at a young age? Gone on walkabout like Jo had attempted to 'find himself'? He had a feeling he wasn't going to find anything out there better than what he had found here when he was first dragged to Eureka in handcuffs.

The pain she could see in his eyes made her frustration seem petty and Jo dropped her gaze. She felt like she was fighting ghosts as she tried to undo the damage Matrix Eureka had done on her friends. Zane, Carter, Allison... they all needed life to get back to normal, as normal as Eureka ever was anyway, but that felt impossible while the actions of her and Carter's NPCs hung over them, causing tension. Some of them couldn't even look each other in the eyes anymore. Jo sighed and rubbed a spot between her eyebrows, trying to dispell her tension with her fingers. Sometimes it felt like she was being punished for Matrix Jo's simulated choices.

Zane's heart ached to see her looking so defeated. He didn't care about Sheriff Carter or Matrix Carter or how either of them felt about either version of Jo Lupo. If she had ever, at any point in either timeline, wanted to be with Jack Carter, Zane never would have made it this far with her. Twice. No, it wasn't Jack Carter holding Zane back. Zane was afraid.

Stepping away from the table he approached Jo, placed his hands on her cheeks and tilted her face up to look at him. He could tell she didn't want to but she met his eyes now. Her face was schooled into a neutral expression, the cold businesslike mask of the Enforcer, but her forehead had that little wrinkle above her right eyebrow. She always got that when she was suppressing really strong emotions. He wondered when he had even first noticed that little tell of hers. It seemed he'd been watching Lupo since long before this 1947-weirdness had her acting differently from the Jo he knew, arousing his suspicions and making him curious. Making him follow her and question her and invade her space until she had finally cracked, revealing what she had tried to bury away. What they had been to each other in another life.

"You lost me once, and I know it hurt." he said, voice rough with emotion. "You hid it real well around me with the strong soldier routine, but I know; Fargo made sure I knew when we were in space, listed every time I was ever a jackass to you. Every comment I made that must have felt like I was twisting the knife." He pressed a kiss to her forehead in honest regret for the torment he had caused her. At first he had believed it was just his and Lupo's dynamic of hassling each other. But eventually he had seen the pain in her, seen her quietly fold in on herself rather than get his face, sparring back like a spitfire. He hadn't understood it then, he couldnt have, but he also hadn't let it stop him from needling her. Rubbing her the wrong way. Practically tugging on her pigtails and pushing her down in the sandbox. Which she would have been able to handle just fine, even then... if it had been anyone else but _him_.

Pulling back, he spoke again. "And then when you decided to drop out of mission selection, you knew you might lose me again, to Titan." He now realized he'd been mad at how easily she'd seemed to take that chance. He had subconsciously thought she didnt care if anything happened to him. While he had found himself quietly panicking at the idea of going to Titan without her to watch his back. "But you didn't run away. You didn't give up on me. On us."

She'd taken a chance on him. On them. More than once. Despite his antagonism, despite his reputation, despite his _record_.

Zane wasn't sure if he was worth it. Now that the situation was reversed, now that he knew what it felt like to lose her, he wasn't sure if he had the courage to take the risk again. Seeing her in Matrix Carter's arms, relaxed and smiling and openly loving in a way he'd never experienced with anyone and wasn't sure he knew how to inspire. She had looked happier and more at ease settled into her rosy little domestic life with Matrix Carter than he had ever seen the real Jo Lupo. Was he in the way of her chance at that kind of life? His instincts tried to urge him to flee. Not because he didn't love Jo, but how could he face getting close to her only lose her again? He wasn't worried about losing her to Carter or any other man, but what would she lose out on? Was he keeping her from the family she want meant to have? Would she be unhappy with him and leave town again? Even if she stayed, Eureka wasn't exactly the safest of places. And no matter where she worked she would always be Deputy Lupo, charging into the face of danger to save others. Being chief of GD security only served to bring her office closer to the usual source of danger in this town.

She smiled sadly and took his hands, lowering them from her face and holding them between her own.

"I did though Zane, dont you see? When I came back and you had changed, I gave up." she swallowed and looked away, blinking back the moisture in her eyes before he could see it "I pulled back and kept my distance from you, the new you, and from everyone else in town. I ran away. When we were sneaking around i kept insisting each time was the last time, trying to cut my ties to you. Before Astraeus even launched I was over the town line because I wasn't sure how I felt about you. If my feelings were for you or for the other Zane. I couldn't spend six months sitting here in Eureka obsessing about it so I went looking for answers."

"Find any?"

"Some." she shrugged diffidently. "Picked up a few more questions on the way though." Maybe there was some secret to walkabout that Taggert had forgotten to tell her.

"You know, Jo... you live in a town full of geniuses, the brightest minds on the _planet._ Not a bad place to be when you are looking for answers."


End file.
